Cause Celeb: Rory Feek brings Capitol Hill audience to tears

Joey Feek, left, and Rory Feek perform during the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in 2010 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images for ACMA)

Celeb: Rory Feek, the country singer and songwriter whose wife and musical partner, Joey Feek, died earlier this year of cervical cancer. Rory Feek documented his wife’s struggle with the diagnosis on their blog to heartbreaking effect — and worldwide attention.

Cause: Advance-care planning and end-of-life decisions, a topic the country singer knows too well. After aggressive cancer treatments, Joey entered hospice care and described making peace with the choice in interviews and blog posts.

Scene: A Senate hearing room on Wednesday night, where the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization hosted a screening of the PBS documentary “Being Mortal” for an assortment of staffers, at least one senator and patient advocates. A panel discussion followed.

Feek, who wore a dressy version of his signature overalls (khaki over a crisp button-down), brought the audience to tears — or else that hearing room got real dusty all of the sudden — by showing the trailer for his own documentary, “To Joey With Love.”

Sound bite: “I’ve been given the opportunity to not only live a great life together, but to watch someone end a great life and be part of that,” he said. “Instead of being a complete wreck, I’ve been encouraged, and part of that is that she had the opportunity to do it the way she wanted to.”

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Emily HeilEmily Heil is the co-author of the Reliable Source and previously helped pen the In the Loop column with Al Kamen. Follow